The Lion and The Bull - Max Verstappen

Chapter 18 - Breakdown

Max had been sitting alone at home for the last few days that he was in the Netherlands and was tempted to text Cecilia every hour of the day but he knew that that was not what she wanted. So he gave her some time. The race at Silverstone was this weekend and so he needed to stay focused to win over the Mercedes. He had been training the past few days which had kept his mind a little occupied but any downtime he had, he spent it thinking about Cecilia.

Cecilia had been staying at a friend's house that lived in the rural parts of the Netherlands. She had told her friend the situation and her friend told her to be rational. She knew she should trust him but still wanted time to cool down before talking to him again. Her friend was a great help when she would break out into a crying fit and would spiral again into her irrationality.

Race day came at Silverstone and Cecilia was reluctant to go but she knew her father needed her and that was all it took to get her there. She arrived at the paddock close to the race start to avoid any encounters with Max. She walked into the garage and saw Max glance at her from the corner while talking to his mechanic. She didn't look at him and b-lined straight for her father. "Where have you been all break?" her father asked and gave her a hug. "Oh I've been spending some time with a friend in the Netherlands," she answered. That wasn't a complete lie but she didn't want to mention Max for fear of tears streaming down her face. "Did you stay with Max?" her father asked which she knew was inevitable. "I stayed with him for a couple days," Cecilia quickly said and tried to take deep breaths. "Is everything alright?" her father questioned. "Yeah everything is good. I am excited for the race," Cecilia said and plastered a fake smile on her face. Her father could tell that something was off but decided not to press. The engineers and mechanics made their last changes on the car before the drivers got in. Max glanced at Cecilia one last time before getting in and this time Cecilia glanced back. She hated not being able to tell him to be safe and giving him a hug but she knew he wanted to give her space. The cars lined up on the grid with Max in P2 and the whole team rushed to get ready for it to start. Cecilia put a headset on to hear the strategy and stood next to her father to help him. The race started and 4 cars skidded out in the first corner but Checo and Max barely stayed out of it and made a sizable gap with Lewis in front of them. Behind Max was Checo, then Pierre, Yuki, and Charles. Max picked up pace and began to gain on Lewis into the last corner of the lap and into a DRS zone. Into the straight, Max enabled DRS and was able to pass Louis into the first corner to take the lead. Louis was still on his tail with Checo now behind Louis. Checo fought with Louis, giving Max some gap between them. The battle continued into lap 31 out of 52 even after a pit stop in lap 26. Max was still in the lead after fighting through traffic and a yellow flag. As Max was pushing to gain more and more pace, he was also lapping the cars at the end of the pack. He pushed into turn 4 after the straight and lost traction on his rear tyres. The whole team held their breaths as his car skidded out across the road. The car hit the racing lines and began to flip over and his car skidded into the barrier upside down. Cecilia was in the garage crying as the whole team scrambled to get someone out there. She frantically turned on the headset and spoke, "Max, are you okay?" She heard some crackling of the signal then heard a faint, "I'm okay love." The whole team made a sigh of relief yet Cecilia was still bawling her eyes out next to her father. "Cecilia he's going to be okay," her father reassured her and wrapped his arm around her. The whole track went into a safety car and she could hear the gasps of the crowd from the crash replays which only fuelled her breakdown. Her father listened to the headset and reported to Cecilia as she sat on the ground crying, "They've got him out of the car and he is being transported back over here to be sent to the hospital." "Is he okay?" Cecilia asked through sobs. "They take everyone to the medic after a crash, I am sure he is okay," he said and gave her a soft pat on the head. Cecilia got up and hurried out of the garage to find wherever this medic may be. As she walked through the paddock she scanned for any sound of an ambulance. Ahead of her she saw flashing lights and she began running towards them. A group of medics were waiting outside of the ambulance for Max who was being wheeled towards them on a stretcher. Cecilia started crying harder as she ran up to his bed. "Max, are you okay?" she asked and scanned his body for any sign of serious injury. "I'm okay my love. Just a little sore, that's all," Max said and struggled to get the words out. Max tried to downplay how much pain he was in to soften how distressed she was. She was sobbing as she followed the bed to the ambulance. As she tried to get on the Medics said that she was not allowed and Max yelled from inside, "Let her on. I need her."